Haryana:BJP-JJP suffer set back in civic polls

Haryana’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janta Jannayak Party (JJP) combine suffered an electoral setback on Wednesday as it could win just one of the three mayoral seats for which elections were held on Sunday, an outcome that came against the backdrop of an ongoing farmers’ protest against three contentious farm laws. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November 26, demanding a repeal of the three laws.

While the BJP won in Panchkula, the Congress and the Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) bagged mayoral posts in Sonipat and Ambala, respectively. It was for the first time that direct elections were held for mayoral posts in the three cities. The setback for the ruling coalition has come in the wake of the BJP sweeping mayors polls in five Haryana cities two years ago. In 2018, the party had won mayoral polls in Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar. In November this year, the ruling combine had failed to win the Baroda assembly bypolls in Sonipat, with the Congress retaining the seat.

For the post of mayor in Ambala, HJCP’s Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of former Union minister Venod Sharma, emerged as a surprise winner, defeating Vandana Sharma of the BJP by a margin of 8,084 votes. The Congress candidate ended up at the fourth spot, officials said. The win came as a boost to the Venod Sharma-led party, which tasted its first win after the 2014 Haryana assembly poll debacle. Kulbushan Goyal of the BJP will be Panchkula’s new mayor. He defeated Congress’ Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia by 2,057 votes. The Congress won the Sonipat mayoral polls. The party’s Nikhil Madaan defeated BJP’s Lalit Batra by 13,818 votes.